Ollo

If Thief EP

The label so indie it hurts, 12 Apostles knew they had something good when they released the sophomore album from Australia’s Ollo, who rules as the funkier down-under cousin of Scotland’s Beta Band. It would have been dumb of them not to follow it up with a record of rarities and/or remixes. For some reason, the obviously remixed If Thief EP has two versions of the title track “The If If” as well as “Summer Salt” and three of the righteous single “The Campaign for Real Bread”. For a proper remix album, more variety would be necessary, but this release works if you think of it as three singles thrown together for the low, low price of one EP.

In execution, the 40 Thieves rendition of “Summer Salt” is not all that far off from the original, so it’s kinda superfluous. The rest do a solid to commendable job of taking you somewhere different. Particularly striking is Dsico’s late ‘70s funk dub treatment of the pop stutter cut “Campaign for Real Bread” and Neotropic’s unrecognizable downtempo female epic post-rock infusion of the originally wacky, UNKLE like, male sung “The If If”. To be sure, If Theif is a fine, almost essential accompaniment to The If If.

If Thief EP

(12 Apostles)US: 16 Jun 2008UK: Unavailable

If Thief EP

Compelled to words by music since 2004, Ranta's words have appeared in such esteemed publications as Exclaim!, Tiny Mix Tapes, CBC Music, and PopMatters. He also regularly votes for the Polaris Music Prize, Village Voice Pazz & Jop, Juno Awards, and in all local, provincial, and federal elections. Based in East Vancouver, he's been known to a rave and/or rant, cat whisper, play basketball, pessimistically root for the Canucks, and read far too many comment sections. He graduated with distinction from SFU in 2012, with a bachelor's degree in music.